


Cold In Dreams

by idrilswritings (idrilhadhafang)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aunt-Niece Relationship, Backstory, Dreams and Nightmares, Female Protagonist, Gen, Original Fiction, POV Female Character, Self-Harm, Visions, Visions in dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 14:46:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17830580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilswritings
Summary: How do you fight against what’s in your head?





	Cold In Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: rites of passage / coming of age

The Nightmare Cove was cold, Remi couldn’t help but notice. It wasn’t supposed to be cold in dreams. That was how she knew she had slipped into the Seeing State — she was cold, she could feel the prickle of goosebumps on her skin. She could feel it, feel the tendency of the corridors to seem to go on forever. Creatures chartered and chartered, and she thought she could hear the joyous shrieks of children that seemed to be eerie in the confines of her mind.   
  
It was just ahead, at the end of the corridor, that she saw the figure, a figure that she seemed to have constructed from a whole mixture of what others had told her about the man who had betrayed his own kind. He was tall, quite tall, clad in white and silver, and his mask...  
  
The mask made him appear almost faceless, actually.   
  
He raised his sword, twirled it around, and it was there that Remi drew hers, her heart pounding frantically even as she did so. She couldn’t afford to be afraid when facing the Nightmare Cove. And yet she knew, already, why it was called that. It was like every nightmare she had about this man had already come to life, and she was afraid.   
  
The sword trembled in her hand, but she willed herself to stay steady. Forced herself to meet the silver-and-white figure’s eyes — assuming there was anything there at all.   
  
The figure spoke, and he had a very soft, yet menacing sort of voice. Filtered and odd. “I’ve crossed galaxies to find you here.”  
  
“Have you?”   
  
The figure did not nod, but he said, “You’d be surprised to find out how far this sort of travel can take. You’d also be surprised how many people can get in your way.”  
  
Remi could already infer what he meant, and she couldn’t say she liked it. “Who are you?”  
  
The figure was silent. Then, “Are names that important to you? Do they make me less frightening?" A tilt of the head. “You are frightened of me. For all you try to stand your ground, in your nightmares, you are lonely.”  
  
“None of your business.”  
  
“Child...everything about you is my business.”  
  
Remi shook her head. “I shouldn’t be talking with a vision.”  
  
The figure took his sword out, and for a moment, Remi wondered if he was going to attack her. Instead, he removed his silver glove — revealing a rough, callused hand — and sliced into his palm. Remi watched in horror even as blood seeped from the open wound.   
  
“Is that a vision’s blood you’re seeing, child?” said the figure.   
  
Remi shook her head. She doubted that visions could bleed.   
  
“I’ve faced worse pain,” said the figure. “This is no more than a little cut.”  
  
Remi took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay steady. “Why won’t you tell me your name?”  
  
“You can call me the Dragon. Many do.”   
  
Now, looking at him, Remi could see that his mask very much resembled a dragon’s face. A faceless dragon, but a dragon’s nonetheless.   
  
“Walk with me,” said the Dragon. “For our benefit.”  
  
“If you draw your sword, I won’t hesitate to draw mine,” Remi said.   
  
“I believe you,” said the Dragon.   
  
The Nightmare Cove seemed to have come alive with numerous creatures, chittering and babbling and watching even as Remi stepped over them, walking down the path that the Dragon and Remi had set out. The path was a sickly green glow, and Remi couldn’t help but think that if the Dragon wanted her to find her way, he’d chosen a memorable way for her to do it.   
  
Finally, they reached a mirror. A broken mirror, and Remi wondered who’d shattered it.   
  
“Interesting design, isn’t it?” said the Dragon. “You could say that you constructed it.”  
  
“Why would I do that to that mirror?”  
  
“To refuse to see what you didn’t want to see.”  
  
Remi looked into the broken pieces of the mirror. At first, there was nothing. Nothing but little, floating Remis in the pieces...and it was then that she saw it. A whole city on fire, the sky being all but dyed red. Flames, winding upwards. Blue eyes turned deep black, like a night without stars.   
  
Remi watched as horrifying image after horrifying image spiraled across the screen like scenes from a horror film. She watched, taking her sword —  
  
— and stabbing through the mirror.   
  
The mirror emitted something that sounded like a shriek, before emitting blinding light that was all but soaked up by Remi’s sword. It gushed, and emanated, and —  
  
***  
  
Remi’s eyes snapped open in that moment, and she turned to look at her surroundings, at her aunt. Her aunt looked worried. “You were thrashing and murmuring in your sleep,” she said. “You must have had one heck of a Premonition. Are you all right?”  
  
“Yeah.” Remi supposed that she was glad to be awake, at any rate.   
  
“We may want to talk about it. See how you did.”  
  
Remi told her. Her aunt went suddenly, very pale — it was like the color had drained from her cheeks. Then, “Have you come across him before?”  
  
“I’ve seen only bits and pieces of him,” Remi said.   
  
Her aunt exhaled. “We’ll need to find a way to catch him. Put him behind bars where he can’t hurt you anymore. As for what he showed you...it’s likely he was trying to scare you. You fought back.”  
  
Remi nodded. She hoped that she could keep fighting back, however she could, when she could.


End file.
